


Conflicting Affections

by loserlordtaur



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-21 11:19:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1548701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loserlordtaur/pseuds/loserlordtaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eridan realizes he is flushed for Tavros, and Vriska tries to convince him that Tavros doesn't like him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cognizant of Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to start another fic that appears to also be targeted towards eritav...  
> Thank you, my amazing awesome friend and moirall for coming up with the title! ;;

* * *

What’s that feeling you get in your stomach and eventually everywhere else on your body when you’re attracted to someone you didn’t even expect to be attracted to?

It’s just, love, really. 

But this one… was strange. Your name is Eridan Ampora and you have just found yourself romantically attracted to Tavros Nitram. 

Now how could something like this possibly happen? A troll with huge ass horns and the color of his blood the same as some nasty mud.  But… you both had enough in common. 

You having the second to the highest blood on the hemospectrum, and him having the second to lowest is one of them. One of you sometimes thinks about it and bring it up, and it surprises you both how you’re good friends like this with such a difference in blood color. But Tavros was friends with Gamzee, right?

Tavros isn’t rude to you, at all. He hasn’t even been a jerk to you the first time you decided to talk to him. You just wanted to make fun of lowbloods, HONESTLY. But, instead, he says he’s relying on his confidence a lot more and is going to use that against you. You were impressed. Very impressed.

He helps you out when you’re killing lusii for Feferi’s monster-of-a-lusus. He can talk to lusii and can tell which ones are peaceful and which ones are just raging with anger. You kill the raging ones. Feferi has asked you what you were doing with him countless times, but you keep trying to convince her that he’s not bad. 

You’re still upset when she broke up her moirallegiance with you. Tavros is like a moirail, but he’s convinced himself that he’s just not worthy of doing something like that. He helps you a lot, though. With that break up, with you rages, with just anything that’s bothering you. Feferi wouldn’t even help you with your troubles. She’s not your _moirail anymore_. 

Tavros enjoys something that doesn’t exist. Fairies. This is like you and magic. It really is fake, but you still think it’s fun to pretend around with. You know about his imaginary friend, Rufio. Vriska gets angry about it all the time, but you actually didn’t Magic is like an imaginary friend, the way wizards are. He was so depressed the day he told you, though. Vriska really let him down, but you didn’t accept that. When he told you this, you didn’t say anything rude to him. You told him that Rufio wasn’t real though, but he was real to him. He just shouldn’t fucking forget his current friends. You didn’t say that because you considered him your friend yet. You said that because it made you furious.

Tavros has invited you to play Fiduspawn plenty of times in the past, and you have said no to nearly all of them, until one day you actually started to think, and the next time he asked, you said yes, and ended up having fun. You didn’t realize then that he didn’t give up and kept asking you to play that game until you said yes. 

What else do you have in common? Fatal Live Action Roleplaying may or may not be one. Didn’t you used to do that a long time ago with Vriska? FLARPing is terrible. Tavros’ legs were paralyzed from it, but more specifically, because of Vriska.

Oh god. You hate Vriska so much. All the things she’s done to you… and Tavros… You’re surprised she still talks to him and acts as if they’re _best friends forever_ … well maybe Tavros doesn’t act like that. 

Tavros likes your fashion style. He makes cool Alternian slam poetry. He can make ‘sick fires’. He may be a landdweller, and honestly after your moirallegiance with Feferi ended, you wanted to fulfill your task to kill all of them again, except… Tavros stopped you, and was very convincing. 

Honestly, you have been rude to Tavros before, you can’t help it. It does upset him sometimes, and you actually feel bad about that. Why? Look at all of your other relationships with everyone else you’ve talked to before. Vriska. Karkat, Sollux, Feferi, even Kanaya, and you’re pretty positive they all hate you. Feferi, not so much, but are you really going to bring up that quadrant issue again? It isn’t even a problem anymore. You feel bad because Tavros only got who you were before you talked to him by Vriska. She most definitely said negative things about him to Tavros. You just wanted to prove that wrong… Geez, this is a lot of thinking. You literally _just_ realized you were flushed for Tavros. By thinking a lot like you are now.

All these reasons are why you are. Tavros is also fierce, and that brings back that he didn’t take most shit from you when you first talked to him.

But… what now? You start thinking about him more, mostly how perfect he is and you… you might want to kiss him. Just take those soft lips and have them touch your own… These are the exact same thoughts you had when you first started feeling red for Feferi. It’s the same, but this time… you don’t want to grab royalty and hold it against you and love it forever. You just want to do that… to a peasant. Someone whose blood is almost the lowest in the caste, even lower than Sollux’s. It just didn’t matter anymore, and you can’t take your feelings back.

So how are you going to tell him? He treats you so much like a friend, you bet he wouldn’t even feel pale, because… really, he said so himself. So what, are you going to have a secret crush on someone else again?

…You guess that’s all you can do, and you just have to wait for the right time to say it. Even though last time didn’t go well. No, this is different. Tavros wouldn’t agree to a matespriteship with Vriska… right? 

Don’t be ridiculous, Eridan, Vriska’s a bitch. So what are you going to do now?

You hear your computer going off. Someone is trolling you. Who is it? Is it Tavros? You run to your computer and sit down to see whom it is.

Yep. Just as expected.

 

\--  arachnidsGrip [AG]  started trolling  caligulasAquarium [CA]  \--


	2. Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eridan and Vriska argue about whether Tavros likes Eridan or not.

You can’t talk to her. You don’t want to. You turn around in your chair and start thinking about Tavros again. But with the thought of Vriska, you could only think of his flaws.

His self-esteem really isn’t great, and you want to fix it. He plays games for girls. His roleplay character isn’t based off his ancestor. He gets scared. A lot. Don’t be stupid, everyone has their flaws. Even yourself.

You glance at your screen and read at Vriska’s attempts to get your attention.

“Hey, Amporafreak! I know you’re there, and you better answer me!

Are you ignoring me? Of course you are, you hate the shit out of me! I hate you too, why don’t we become kismesis again?

Hahahahahahahaha just kidding! You’re too lame. Really, answer though!

Oh my god, Eridan, can you please answer me? I know you don’t like me because of the things I’ve done and said to Tavros…”

“But I need to talk to you about him.”

Oh god. Oh god oh god oh _god_. Vriska wants to talk about Tavros. Did something happen to him? Did she just read your thoughts or something and now knows you’re flushed for him?

Your spin your chair back to the face of your monitor, staring at the cerulean words on the screen, ready to type your own violet response.

“…What is it.”

“I knew you’d respond. And I didn’t say I needed to talk to you about Tavros to get you to respond. I really need to talk to you about him.”

There was a pause.

“What is it?”

“You’re good friends with him, somehow. I don’t know how you’re still not hating him because of his blood.”

“Why aren’t you hatin him because he’s a lowblood, then?”

“Oh come on, I mess with lowbloods, not hate them. As for you, you call every low8lood a scum. Not Tavros, though.” 

“I called Tav a lowblood scum plenty of times in the past.

What are you trying to say here, though?” 

“I’ve watched you attempt to flirt with him. It’s a relief that he doesn’t notice it because it’s not heavy, but I notice it like the clearest piece of glass on this planet.”

Wait, you flirted with Tavros? You have no memory of doing so. Maybe you were doing it without even realizing it? That would mean you both were oblivious to your own actions. No, that can’t be.

“No way, I never flirted with him, ever.”

“Oh come on, you flirted with like, everyone, even Equius. Are you not aware you’re attempting to hit on Tavros?”

“No I’m not, I was never aware.”

“So you’re telling me you were completely oblivious to your own hitting on one another?”

“What? Yeah, I guess."

“Do you like Tavros?”

That was sudden. Like as in a friend right…? Who the fuck are you kidding, you knew Tavros for a long time. He’s weak, he’s strong, he’s caring, he’s frustrating, he’s like you… he’s like you, and that’s why you like him so much, and eventually your feelings came to be… this. 

“As a friend, yes.” 

“No, I mean. Are you pale for him? Red? You seem to like him so much, that he managed to make you smile.”

That is true. Tavros is just… he makes people laugh easily. He’s like a large metal or gold object that produces laughter and smiles.

“What, uh, no, I’m not.” He had to lie, but Vriska would find out.

“Yeah. Alright. Well if you do, you’re out of the largest luck you can get.”

“What do you mean?”

“He doesn’t like you.” 

You froze. No, that can’t be possible, Tavros likes you. Tavros likes you, right? Right, he’s your friend, if he didn’t like you, he’d abandon you. It can’t be! No.

“That’s not true. He likes me, I know that.”

“Quite defensive you are, heh! Well I mean, do you _know_ him? He fatally live action roleplayed and lots the ability to lose his legs. It was because he’s lousy, but he’s pretty hardworking in these games, too!” 

“Excuse you, it was your damn fault he jumped off that cliff and got hurt.” 

“But I didn’t push him off the cliff physically, he jumped off of it!”

“Because of your fucking stupid psychic mind controllin powers. You pushed him off that cliff; he had no intention of doin it. He couldn’t even control himself. You were.”

“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. But I’m saying, he doesn’t like you. He’s amaaaaaaaazing at roleplaying, and I’ve been roleplaying with him, like, my entire life! You’ve only known him for a sweep. Why’d you bother talking to him that one day again?”

“I wanted to mess with lowbloods and I apparently just never talked to him before, okay? But in this sense... messing means making fun of.” 

“Okay, yeah. The fact that you’re defending him can prove that you like him :::;)”

“Okay… Okay, so what if I am? What’s the big deal, it doesn’t seem like you like him much.”

“Well for one, he isn’t supposed to be flushed for you back, not that I know he is or not. He’s supposed to be for me. I knew him longer, I like him more, and he likes me, too. And again, I bet he wouldn’t like you. It’s not just because of his incredible skill in roleplaying, but also because you’re a highblood. It’s not interesting if you’re near royalty while he’s near a piece of useless waste. I bet he’s afraid of you. Afraid that one day, you two will be alone with absolutely no one else around and watching, not even your own lusus, and you’ll stab him or blast him with your little Ampora gun and leave him to rot.”

Look at how ridiculous this girl is. She assumes you’re going to kill Tavros one day. That is definitely false.

“I’m not goin to hurt him at all. You know after I’ve taken a liking to him I was going to talk to him with a different approach compared to the rest of you I know. I just wasn’t goin to afford another one hatin the utter livin shit outta me. And compare the amount of times I’ve harmed him compared to you. Didn’t you mess around with your dumb psychic powers once and bruised his eye with them?”

“Well that’s a story I told you, so yes. Also, it’s not called psychic, it’s called Vision-8 Fold!

…. Eridan, really do you even like Tavros?”

What kind of question was this? Of course you do.

“My god, of course I do, didn’t I just confirm that I was even flushed for him?”

“Right, right. Is he at your hive right now?”

“No.” Why ask something like that?

“Well that’s strange, because he won’t answer me!!!!!!!!”

“Well I don’t know what the deal with that is, so don’t start assuming that I have somethin to do with that.”

“Aw, but I’m so sure you do!” 

“Absolutely not.” 

It’s been a few minutes and Vriska hasn’t responded. You were thinking about Tavros while she wasn’t. He’s not at your hive… He’s not at your hive… not… not yet. 

You have just remembered that you invited Tavros to hang out with you recently and today is the day he does. Oh god, how could you have forgotten?

“Vris. Vris. Vris. Vriska.”

“What do you want? I’m thinking! Actually, nevermind, I’m finished anyway. Are you sure Tavros isn’t at your hive? Did you invite him and forgot? Come on, it’s easy to forget when it comes to you.” 

“So I might’ve invited him over a few days ago, but he’s comin today. And he’s supposed to be here any minute now.”

“Hah! I knew it! That sounds a bit desperate, if you tell me.”

“It’s not desperate.”

“I didn’t say it was desperate I said it sounded desperate!”

“Well, I’ll have you know, it isn’t.” 

“It could be, though! I don’t believe that you’re attracted to Tavros, and I would love to see proof that you do. At the same time, it’ll be proof that he hates you! It’s a shame there’s noooooooo way for you to prove it to me, so it will always stay a mystery!”

God _damn_ it, you’re going to prove to her that you and Tavros are perfect. Somehow. How?

“Well, I know he feels the same.”

“He’s probably just pretending to be someone else towards you and is actually testing you! Not that I know, honestly.”

“I’m goin to prove to you that he’s flushed for me, too, alright?”

“And how are you going to do that? I told you, there’s no way you can do that. It’s not possible. I mean, if it is, how? Are you going to force him to kiss you or something? Just to let you know, that’s my idea. You’re not going to steal it.” 

“No. He’s goin to be the one to determine if you’re right or wrong without him even knowin we spoke about this.” 

“Are you sure? I bet you’re just going to leave for a while and then come back saying he slobbered your face up when he really didn’t.”

“Is there any way I can prove it to you?” 

“No…….. But!

There is ONE way… You know that little dot in the middle of your computer?”

“Yeah, I have no idea what that thing is or does.”

“Well you’re about to find out! It’s a camera. It’s so you can take stupid pictures of yourself on your computer… but you can also make videos and all that and pretend you’re making a movie like you’re 4.15 sweeps old. You can also show your face to other people :::;)”

“Don’t make that face at me.”

“:::;) :::;) :::;)”

“Please stop and show me how to set up this camera. And before Tav comes.”

“Damn, you seem so determined! But fine, since I’m sparing you. But, you will follow everything I say!” 

“Wait. I hear somethin.”

“What is it?” 

“Oh.

Oh god, Tav is here. Look, you’re going to teach me how to activate this camera as soon as I return, you got it?”

“Yeah, for Tavros. Heheh!”

You got up from your chair and head towards the entrance of your hive where Tavros was standing. He was standing with nothing on him but his clothing and short-sleeved jacket. He smiled at you and you lightly did so back.

“Uh, Tav, hi. You didn’t tell me what time you were comin.”

“Haha, yeah I know. Sorry. I just decided since we’re such good friends I would just randomly come whenever…?”

“Haha, how dumb.” You chuckled. It was dumb. You back away to let him in, and he does.

“Ugh, man, sorry, I didn’t know when you were comin today. I was in the middle of talkin to someone on Trollian. You don’t mind if you rest for a while I finish this business?”

“Yeah, sure.” Tavros walked to one side of the room, the opposite of where your computer was and sat down, picking up one of your fake wands and observing it. You walk back to your computer and sat down, grumbling. Hopefully Tavros doesn’t know you’re angry, and if he does, you hope he doesn’t think your angry at him for arriving randomly.

You start typing.

“Alright, Tav is here. Now how do you set it up?”

“Oh, you’re back, finally. Tavros is there? What is he doing?”

Your hand’s palm hit your forehead. You should’ve known she would’ve asked this. You removed your hand from your head and turned around, unable to get the disgruntled expression you currently have off. Apparently Tavros did take notice of your foul mood and had just turned his head around quickly from you back to the pile of fake wands in front of him. You turned back to your computer.

“He was lookin at me, but quickly turned away as I looked at him.”

“……..What is that supposed to even mean!?”

“How should I know? You made me pretty fuckin upset and Tav noticed that. But there, now you know what he’s doin. He’s also messin with my wands, but other than that, that’s it. Now tell me how to turn on a video or somethin like that.” 

“Fine, fine. But you will listen to every word I say… right?”

“As long as I can get proof.”


	3. Show You Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tavros thinks about Eridan, Eridan is pissed, and they both want to show each other a "gift"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not being active in a while, stuff happened and all that, but here we finish with dorks !!! ; u ;  
> Also sorry for posting this at a late time u_u;;

Your name is Tavros Nitram and you are genuinely confused and worried right now. 

You sitting down in front of a ton of fake wands that your good friend, Eridan owns, and you have one in your hand. You notice his negative attitude and you really want to ask what’s wrong, but he seems busy talking to someone. Who could it be? Definitely someone that makes him angry. Definitely Vriska.

You try to convince him by trying to daydream about something like Pupa Pan. These thoughts lead you to think about Eridan and yourself doing fun things together. Playing Fiduspawn, fake wizard duels, making impressions of other people you know, pretending to live life if you had a different blood color, trying to scare each other, lying under a soft blanket and accidentally falling asleep next to each other, kissing…

Wait, what? What led you to think of that? And… did you like that thought? Those thoughts? Of you and Eridan being… 

You placed the palm of your hand on your face, forcing yourself to close one of your eyes. You placed an elbow on top of your knee, but nearly jumped due to cold temperature of it. Ugh, that’s right,. You keep forgetting you have metal legs now. Equius had heard about your paralyzed legs and had at first refused build new ones until Vriska persuaded him, reminding him that he built a robot for Aradia and that he only has to work with legs. She said it was rather hard to convince him, but he ended up doing the work anyway. You got new robotic legs not long after, but using them was a pain in your current cold hard ass. It took an unbelievably long amount of time until you mastered using them correct, and could actually manage to walk down and up stairs without tripping and falling (you definitely felt hopeless when you were walking up the stairs and tripped and fell right back down them)

It’s not a big deal anymore; at least you didn’t have to use a wheelchair now. But aside from that, the thought of entering a quadrant with Eridan…

It wasn’t terrible. In fact you did like Eridan some, but you kept changing your mind back and forth and couldn’t decide. You really wanted to cheer him up though. But how? Honestly, you didn’t bring anything with you. Nothing. Not even your portable device to communicate.

You started to think of ways to cheer him up. For some reason these thoughts led to you and Eridan being… romantic, no matter how hard you try to push them away.

Maybe… Maybe you should kiss him? Just lightly on the lips to surprise him? Your cheeks start to burn. Don’t look back at him again, he might look at you again and see your bronze covered face. 

You can hear excessive cursing behind you. What is he doing? At least he’s not having fun right? No that sounds rude… you just wouldn’t like it if he were to be enjoying himself without you. 

As soon as you’re sure your face has cleared, you turn your head back at Eridan again. He’s staring at his computer. You stare for a while until you thought you saw a glance from him and quickly turned your head away again. 

Fuck, why do you even like him so much? He is pretty much an asshole who has a ton of friends who aren’t really his friends now or anymore. He used to be Feferi’s Moirail, he used to be best friends with Karkat, and he used to be okay with Kanaya. And by okay, you mean, no hatred there, until one day he started yelling at Kanaya for his own personal problems, and now he and Kanaya aren’t in very good terms.

Eridan yelled at you before because of his own highblood rage or probably something else, and honestly only rarely have you been able to take it. You end up choking on your own tears and blocking him until he apologizes to you.

You really should kiss him. Whether it’d make him feel better or not, you just want to press your lips against a sea dweller’s. And this sea dweller is the only one you’re close friends with. Damn, you might as well be flushed for him.

You heard Eridan slam his fist on his table. What’s going on? You turned your head back to catch sight of him. He was out of his chair and the palms of his hands slammed on his desk. He was staring at his computer screen intensely, you think. You can just barely see his eyes, if only he didn’t have fins…

He pointed at his screen and you could slightly seem him mouth out something to it. What was he doing? You didn’t think you could’ve been more confused. He huffed and turned around, which somehow told you to stand up, and you did, now facing him.

“Um, Eridan, are you okay?” 

“No, I’m mad. Very frustrated, but not at you.”

“Uh, well, maybe I can cheer you up. I want to show you something.”

“That’d be nice, but before you do can I show you somethin?”

“No, no, mine will be quick.” You insisted.

“So will mine, I mean, it could last longer if you like it’d y’know…” You didn’t really know what he meant by that. But you’re certainly positive your little kiss will be… little.

“No, really mine will be not even a second long!”

“Tav, come on, I’ll see it after I show you my own little gift, alright?”

Ugh, why don’t you just press your lips against his just like that? You really want him to agree to your “something”, though!

“No!!! I have to show you it, but I want you to agree that I show you mine first! Mine is the quickest thing ever, I promise you a ton!”

“Tav, really, it’s just somethin you’re goin to show me, besides, it’ll be quick, but mine won’t depending on your opinion of it. Just let me… show you, okay?” 

No, no, no, no, this isn’t supposed to happen. You’re starting to get frustrated.

“My god, Eridan, why won’t you agree with me? It’s just, not even a second…” You took a step closer to him. 

“No, Tav, no… god damnit, why won’t _you_ agree with me? As I said, you’re goin to _show_ me somethin, I may say I’m showin you somethin, but maybe I’m not, what if I’m sayin somethin? What if I’m gonna do somethin? Dear cod.” You took slight note of the pun.

“My fuckin god, nevermind. I don’t want to see your stupid somethin anyway, and I’m not goin to show you mine. Just forget it.” Eridan sighed heavily. 

You can’t take it anymore. You took one last step forward and leaned your head toward Eridan’s, softly pressing your lips against his. Your eyes quickly went shut while doing so, until you took a few steps back. You caught a glimpse of Eridan’s face. You could see that most of his face turned into a violet color, with his eyes widened. You turned around and started heading to Eridan’s exit.

“Fine, if you say you don’t want to show your gift or your something, or whatever it is, then fine. I don’t want to see it. I’m leaving. Goodbye.”

It wasn’t long until you felt a hand grab your arm. Eridan pulled you and turned you around, where you are now facing him, somewhat close.

“Tav.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry about that.”

He still had his hand on your arm and pulled you closer to him. He then let go and wrapped his arms around your back and pulled you into a rougher kiss compared to yours. This kissing went on for a damn long time.

A while after, you found out Vriska saw all of that. And was pissed off.

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to start another fic that appears to also be targeted towards eritav...  
> Thank you, my amazing awesome friend and moirall for coming up with the title! ;;


End file.
